Tag Archives: Reef Ecology

THE CORALS OF FOWL CAY MARINE PRESERVE, ABACO [VIDEO]

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DCB GBG Cover Logo dolphin

THE CORALS OF FOWL CAY MARINE PRESERVE, ABACO

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I usually have 3 or 4 planned posts on the go. Some are quick to compose, some are not. Especially those requiring technical input from the technically unsound – downloading a video, changing the file format, editing and polishing, uploading to a compatible ‘carrier’ etc. I’ve been meaning to get round to making some fish and reef videos from footage of a trip with Kay Politano of Abaco Above & Below. Now I have…coral8

If you are tolerant enough to at least start this one, which focusses on coral, can I restate the excuses? I swim like a panicking cat. I hadn’t snorkelled for a great many decades years until 2011. I was a stranger to underwater scenery, let alone photography. I wave my tiny camera around too excitedly, though not deliberately to inflict seasickness on hapless viewers… It is a bit less bad this time round, however. Luckily I can tell from my stats if anyone has bothered to click on the video below, and you can rely on me to trash the thing if I find a paltry (or non-existent) response. Best just to watch on the small screen, though.coral14

With those dire warnings, here is the video. I would be very interested to ID all the corals that can be seen. There are the easy ones like sea fan, elkhorn, mustard hill, brain… but what’s that one over there? No, behind the waving one…? Comments / suggestions welcome. And if you don’t much care for coral, there are some pretty fish to look at…

Music Credit: Adrian Legg’s ‘Old Friends’, from ‘Guitar Bones’

ADDENDUM JAN 13 I am really grateful to Capt Rick Guest for taking the time to view the video, and the trouble to analyse the contents. He has very helpfully highlighted many points of interest in the film, both as to coral and as to fish, so I’ll post his commentary in full, with my thanks. Of both interest and concern are Rick’s remarks about the Elkhorn Coral. I had wondered about its bleached look. It’s dying…

CORALS ETC

  • At 0:36 a lavender Sea Fan…(Gorgonia ventalina).
  • At 0:52 Yellow “Leaf”,or “Letuce Coral”. Agaricia species growing around a living soft coral called a “Sea Rod”. Soft Corals have living polyps which feed on plankton just like the hard corals.
  • At 1:02 More Agaricia, and a small Brain Coral at bottom. Either a Diploria, or Colpophylia species.
  • At 1:10 A Sergent Major fish, (Abedefduf saxatilus). One of my favorite Taxanomic names! Behind is mostly dead, Elkhorn Coral. The white areas being indicative of “White Plague”. A disease responsible for Coral Whiting…..Death!
  • At 1:37 A Blue Tang swims over some “Mustard Coral”… Porites porites.
  • At 1:55 A chubby “Chub” swims by. Likes caves and caverns and edible, but not palatable.  
  • At 2:33-38  Much coral bleaching damage here on these Elkhorn Corals.  
  • At 2:40-48 A Thalassoma bifaciatum,or “Blue Headed Wrasse” is swimmin’ about. This guy used to be a lady,but he’s a product of Protandric Hermaphrodism! When there’s a paucity of males in the area, a yellow female will step up and become a male for the school.
  • At 3:29 Lower right: a fine example of Millepora complanata,”Fire Coral”. Fire Coral is more related to Man-O-War, and jellyfish than Corals.
  • At 3:50 More Elkhorn Coral with White Plague  
  • At 4:23 Brain Coral, probably Diploria clivosa 

A GLIMPSE OF ARTIFICIAL REEF NIGHTLIFE – ABACO, BAHAMAS

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A GLIMPSE OF ARTIFICIAL REEF NIGHTLIFE

This very short time-lapse video was posted on the always informative ABACO SCIENTIST website administered by Craig Layman of FIU (Florida International University). The site benefits from the wide knowledge of a variety of contributors in many different fields. As it says, “Abaco, just like all of the Bahamian Islands, hosts a wealth of natural wonders. From parrots to whales to blue holes to mangrove wetlands, it is no wonder that scientific research is thriving on the island. The Abaco Scientist is intended as your one-stop source for all things science on Abaco and throughout The Bahamas“.

The coral reefs of Abaco and the Bahamas (as elsewhere) are vital yet vulnerable eco-systems. The adverse effects of global warming (or however you describe it if you shy away from that specific term) are increasingly evident. To that damage can be added a slew of other major threats to coral survival – and to the marine life that thrives on the reefs.  There are a number of research projects in progress in the Bahamas into the effectiveness of artificial reefs as a means of conservation of the ecology of reef waters. One of these is by FIU undergraduate student Martha Zapata. In her words, “We have recently been capturing time lapse video of the artificial reefs at night. Many reef fishes, like grunts, will leave the reef around dusk to forage in the nearby seagrass beds during the night. We wanted to be able to observe the fish on the reefs without influencing their behavior, so we used infrared light (which fish cannot see) to illuminate the reef. The image sequences have shown a stark difference in fish abundance from day to night. Also, we have been able to observe some of the more cryptic organisms that have made these reefs their home. Usually masters of disguise, urchins roam about the surface of the reef. Look out for the banded coral shrimp and crab that crawl up the side of the reef to graze on algae and detritus while the fish are away. Even a moray eel makes an appearance near the end!“

Besides specially constructed artificial reefs, other man-made objects provide  good foundations for an artificial reefs and marine life – in particular, wrecks. There are many of these in the low waters of the Bahamas, some centuries old, others recent. Fred and Melinda Riger of Grand Bahama Scuba, Freeport, take their diving schools to wrecks because of the profusion of marine life that gathers around – and indeed inside – them.